The battle between the Davids was barely over, but the showdown continued here in Pasco County with an American Idol knockoff with a higher calling.

The finals of a small-scale version of the popular singing contest were held May 22 on a raised stage in the Pine View Middle School gymnasium. The show was about talent and guts, about having a bunch of random judges decide your fate and getting out of sixth period. All for a good cause.

This is the second year for the contest at Pine View, where people can vote as many times as they like for 25 cents a pop. Last year's contest raised more than $5,000 for the American Cancer Society. This year's cause is the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders.

Finalists — performing in duets, groups and some flying solo — made it through a six-week cash vote down to the grand finale. The contestants sang a variety of songs: Unwritten, Bleeding Love, Breathe, You're the One That I Want.

So maybe you're wondering who won? Sorry, no spoilers here.

It turns out the voting and the counting won't be over till Thursday, said Stephanie Walls, a Language Arts Teacher who organized the event. Walls' son, Remington, 8, has eosinophilic disorder, an allergy to the protein found in food.

"Kids with this disease don't eat like you and I do, Walls said. "They get violently ill if they do."

"He's lucky," Walls said. "Some of the kids with the disorder have to eat through a stomach tube."

The disorder is often isolating for everyone involved, Walls said. "And there is no cure."

So that's what Pine View folks have been working for, raising a quarter with each vote, $3 with each ticket students purchased to watch the final performances. By last count, the competition had cleared more than $2,000.

We'll let you know about the grand total. And about the winner? Read all about that, too, in next week's Top of the Class.